


Schützen Sie

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:31:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin wasn’t exactly sure when the infection began.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> an AU written about this post: http://painbows.tumblr.com/post/69031220384/day-3-sickness-hit-zombies-with-a-bat-to-try-and 
> 
> i hope you enjoy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin wasn't exactly sure when the infection began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an AU written about this post: http://painbows.tumblr.com/post/69031220384/  
> i hope you enjoy.

Armin wasn't exactly sure when the infection began. He vaguely remembered it being around winter time, soft snow falling on rotting corpses scattered around the town. He also remembered that he was staying at Jean's house when things began to escalate. The town had been having a strange sickness spreading for about a month; every other person in town was sick with whatever it was. Luckily for Jean and Armin, they spent very little time outside, and chose to snuggle up instead, wrapped in warm blankets as they watched movies nearly all day. That was the only reason that they weren't one of those creatures outside.  
  
Armin didn't know about Eren or Mikasa, but they were nowhere to be found in town, and weren't any of the bodies outside, which Armin was very thankful for. He hoped that they ran off and found somewhere safe.  
  
Jean had wanted to run off as well, to find a more suitable place to be, but Armin insisted that they stay. They argued countless times about whether or not to leave, but Jean eventually let Armin have his way, and they remained in Jean's house.  
  
The first few weeks were very rough. Not only were the two of them utterly confused, they watched, horrified, as hundreds of townspeople were ripped to shreds in front of them. They struggled to barricade Jean's house, and they also struggled to find any sort of weapons. Jean used to use his pistol, but it became apparent that the noise of the gun only attracted more of them, so they switched their arsenal for bats, crowbars and the like. Jean very rarely let Armin handle the weapons, unless they were on a food run. Jean insisted that he wanted to keep Armin safe, and although Armin had a lot to say about the fact that he could handle his own, he let Jean have his way. It was the least he could do, considering he convinced Jean to stay in town with him.  
  
Food runs were conducted every three to two weeks, depending on how much food or resources were left. It used to be conducted every week, until the two of them found a more efficient way of preserving their food, and also learning to eat a lot less. Food runs normally took them to the houses near them, since the supermarket was too risky. However, now that they had scavenged nearly all of what they could from the neighbors houses, they would need to start pillaging from houses farther away. This was also risky, but not nearly as bad as the supermarket.  
  
Since the electricity was out, they relied on the fireplace to cook. They also used the fireplace to purify any water, just to be safe. Luckily for them, however, one of Jean's neighbors has a well in their back yard, and after securing a path to and from, they were able to have easy access to fresh water. Since moving the water back and forth for baths were rather tedious, Jean had managed to move the bathtub from the other end of the house to fairly close to the backdoor, making the trips a lot easier.  
Armin was sure that compared to a lot of people, the two of them were living very well off. They always had food to eat, they always had fresh water, and they always had each other. Armin was very thankful to have Jean here. He remembered sobbing uncontrollably some nights, and Jean was always there to hold him, to whisper soft words and rub his back until he eventually fell asleep.  
  
Those first few weeks were definitely very tough. But now, they had a system that worked, and they stuck to it, for they both knew that if they didn't, they would end up dead. The two of them constantly did maintenance checks on the barricades on both the windows and doors. They made sure everything was secure, and even the littlest crack would require immediate attention. They could not afford to be careless in their situation. The first week, when they were barely putting their defenses up, they had had countless life-or-death situations. Those creatures broke in three to four times a day, and it continued like that for a week. Armin was absolutely paranoid about one of them breaking in now, even though they had not had an encounter inside the house for well over two months.  
  
Armin was not even sure how they had survived this long. It was definitely not determination that kept them alive. Maybe it was the fact that the two of them were together. Armin had no clue. All he knew was that in a ruined world, the two of them somehow managed to be content with what they had.  
  
Since there was no electricity and no means of going outside, they had to find various ways to entertain themselves. They sometimes played cards, and even invented a few new card games to play. They even played board games, although Armin wasn't sure why Jean agreed to play, Armin always won and Jean always threw a fit afterward. There were even moments where they found themselves sprawled on their bed downstairs, the fire illuminating the outlines of their skin as they touched and kissed and caressed. Their bodies became tangled together as Armin had to restrain his voice, because he knew that if he let it out, it would only lead to danger. Jean's hands always touched the right places, always roamed over the most sensitive areas, and Armin was sure that these moments were the closest to happiness they would be able to reach.  
  
After nights like those, they always took a warm bath together in the morning, and they tried their best to remain calm and content for as long as they could, before their duties for the day began.  
  
Of course the two of them were very well off compared to others, but it is never guaranteed that such things will ever last.


	2. Suspicion

Armin woke with a start, his body just now registering the fact that Jean wasn't sleeping next to him. He sat up and looked to Jean's side of the bed, reaching over to graze his hand gently across it. It wasn't warm anymore, meaning that Jean had been gone for quite a bit. Armin furrowed his brow and stood slowly, slipping on some warmer clothes.  
Armin couldn't get his hands to stop shaking as he pulled his sweater over his head. There was something telling him that Jean was in trouble. This wasn't the first time that Jean wasn't next to Armin when he woke up, but this time it seemed out of place. There was no note, no sign of Jean leaving. This could just be Armin worrying over nothing, but in their situation, it was a very important thing to worry about one another.

Armin walked aimlessly around the house, but Jean was nowhere to be found. He even peeked outside to the well, but Jean wasn't there either. Armin grew more and more worrisome as the minutes passed, and he eventually went back in to the living room to try and calm himself. He needed to think of places Jean would've gone. What he might be doing. But nothing came to mind since Jean never left without telling Armin, or warning him, or something. Armin's breath began to quicken and worst case scenarios reeled in his mind, but everything suddenly stopped when the sound of latches being undone reached Armin's ears.  
Armin's breath hitched and he ran to the door, unlocking the other latches to help the other inside. Once the door slid open, Jean slipped inside and quickly returned the latches to their locked state, not even glancing at Armin. Armin's cheeks grew hot with anger and he turned Jean to face him. He spoke quietly, while still trying to make his voice sound as scolding as possible. "Where in the world did you go?!"

Armin was about to continue his rant, but stopped when he noticed how disoriented Jean looked. Armin's eyes widened and he grabbed Jean's shoulders, shaking him gently. "Are you okay? Did you run in to any danger?" Armin reached up and patted down Jean's disheveled hair, and rubbed the smudges of dirt off of the others face. Jean shooed the others hand away and chuckled lightly before speaking. "Our can opener broke." He said softly as he lifted a new can opener up between the two of them to show Armin. "So I went next door to get another one. I tripped while I was searching." He smiled apologetically at the other. "I was going to try and have breakfast done before you woke up."

Armin just stood there, dumbfounded. Jean went through all of that trouble just so he could have breakfast done for Armin. Armin let his hands slide down from Jean's shoulders, and he pouted gently. "That's sweet and all, but you know we don't go out there alone..." He whispered. It was such a relief to know that Jean was safe, but Jean really did know better. Armin began to second guess Jean, because he knew that Jean would've never gone out alone. Armin was about to say something else, but Jean held a finger up to his mouth to stop him. "I know, I know. I just figured that it wouldn't be that big of a deal, since it was just next door." He smiled in an attempt to put Armin's worry to rest. "But I guess I learned the hard way. It won't happen again." His finger slid upward from Armin's mouth, running his fingers gently though Armin's hair. Armin looked down, still pouting a bit before he nodded gently. He trusted Jean.

Jean smiled wider, before making his way in to the living room to finally start up some breakfast. Armin followed, making note that Jean was wearing a sweater that he hadn't seen before. It made Armin wonder, but only for a bit as he sat down next to the other to watch him cook.

"This place has been really quiet for the past week." Jean said as he poured the can of chili in to the pot. "Have you noticed that?" He asked, turning to face Armin. Armin tilted his head in thought, then turned to look out their barricaded window. He nodded in agreement. "It has..." Armin started. "I wonder if they've all migrated or something?"

Jean laughed softly and turned his attention back to the pot, stirring it slowly. "You make it seem like they're birds or something. They're headed south for the winter to stay warm." Jean teased. Armin wasn't amused. He knew that those creatures outside weren't migrating to stay warm, they were migrating to find food, since they couldn't find any here. Armin didn't say this out loud, though. Armin turned to look at Jean, examining the sweater he was wearing. He crinkled his brow as he looked closely; he realized that the sweater was probably a half a size to small for Jean, and wasn't something Jean would normally wear.

"Is that a new sweater or something?" Armin asked, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them gently, watching as Jean stiffened for a moment. Jean quickly recovered, however, and continued to stir the food. "Nah, I've had this for a while. I just never pulled it out until today." He said, turning to Armin once more. "Why do you ask?" Armin took one last good look at the sweater, before he shrugged and laughed gently. "It just doesn't seem like something you'd wear." He said.  
They continued to chat idly as Jean cooked, and eventually Armin stood to retrieve some bowls. Jean served both of them, and they ate in silence. Jean finished first, but waited for Armin to finish before taking both of their bowls to the sink, where they would get washed later on tonight. When Jean sat back down, he slipped his shoes off and pulled their blanket over his legs. "So, we've only got two cans of beans left, and one can of green beans. It's been about a month since our last food run, and it looks like we'll have to do one tomorrow."

Armin sighed heavily and scooted closer to Jean, sliding his own legs under the blanket. "Seems like it. Which houses have we not hit for food yet?" Armin asked, reaching over to pull his backpack towards them. He opened his pack and fished around, before pulling out a rolled up piece of paper. He opened it, and scanned its contents. Jean did the same, only he marked out a few of the houses they've searched already. Jean frowned as he marked off the last house within a mile of them. "...it looks like we've hit all the houses around here. Unless we want to travel more than a mile, we're going to have to hit the supermarket."

Armin bit his lip as he looked over the map over and over again. Moving more than a mile away from the house was extremely dangerous, but the supermarket was just as much of a threat. Armin looked to Jean, his eyes full of worry as he spoke. "There's a cold front coming in, and who knows how soon it will hit. Even though both options are dangerous, I think our safest bet is to get as much stuff from the supermarket as we can. If we get enough stuff from the font end of the store to last us until after the cold front, then we can scout around the rest of the neighborhood that's more than a mile away."

Jean looked up at the ceiling, as if contemplating their decision. After a bit, Jean sighed and turned to Armin once more. "I think you're right. We need to prepare for the supermarket tomorrow."

-

They spent the rest of the day coming up with plans A, B, C, and D. They also prepared their backpacks and weapons, and anything else they could think of to bring. By the time it was dark, the two of them felt as though they were ready to set out tomorrow. Of course they had their doubts, but they promised each other that they would try their best.   
Armin now slipped in to some more comfortable clothes, getting ready to sleep. Jean was still in the bathroom, getting ready as well. Armin was about to slip under the covers, but then realized that he had yet to brush his teeth. He sighed and stood back up, heading to the bathroom. He grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open just a bit, peeking inside to make sure he wouldn't disturb Jean by walking inside. His eyes widened when he saw what Jean was doing.

Jean was cleaning a wound on his arm that had previously been hidden from Armin due to Jean's sweater. Armin began to tremble as he realized that Jean could've been bitten by one of those creatures. Armin looked up and noticed that Jean looked rather calm as he cleaned the wound, and that calmed Armin's nerves a bit. He slowly backed away from the door and headed back to the bed.

Surely Jean would've told Armin had it been a bite. And because Jean had not told him about the wound at all, meant that it was a trivial wound that he had most likely gotten when he tripped in the neighbors house.

Armin tried his best not to worry as he slid under the blankets and fell asleep.


	3. Carelessness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin's miscalculations cause the whole plan to slip right through their fingers.

Had the two of them been under normal circumstances, Armin would have stayed in bed with Jean as he slept; he would maybe brush some hair from his face or maybe even snuggle closer to the other and fall back asleep himself. However, they were not under normal circumstances. After what Armin had seen last night, he woke up and immediately sat up and away from Jean. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jean - but as of right now, he didn't know what to think about in this situation, so he believed it would better to be safe than sorry.

As that thought crossed his mind, Armin immediately grew angry with himself. The two of them had been through so much together, and now all it took for Armin to push Jean aside was a wound that was not for certain whether it was a bite or not? Armin thought carefully over this, hugging his legs to his chest as he normally did when he was distressed.

Perhaps Jean hid the wound from Armin on purpose, because Jean knew it was no big deal, but also knew that Armin would most likely worry his head off until the wound healed. That made perfect sense looking at it through Armin's perspective, but then again, Jean never really went to such lengths just for a wound. This definitely was not the first time Jean had hurt himself, but this was the first time that Jean had made a point to hide it from Armin.

It now became apparent that the sweater Jean was wearing was definitely not his - it was one of the neighbors old sweaters. That means that Jean had gotten the wound while fetching the can opener, and if Jean's story still stood true about him tripping, then the wound wasn't that big of a deal.

It just didn't match up with Jean's personality to hide something so trivial. Which meant that the wound was most likely not so trivial.

As Armin continued to lose himself in thought, Jean had rolled over and found Armin not where he had bed. This immediately caused Jean to wake up. Jean's eyes opened and scanned the living room with worried eyes, but all worries went to rest when he spotted Armin at the edge of the bed. Jean sat up, and the motion made Armin turn to face Jean.  
To keep things from being awkward, Armin smiled warmly at the other and stood. "Good morning. I was going to make some tea and a nice breakfast before we headed out today." He said, hoping that Jean wouldn't notice his voice was trembling a bit.

Armin decided, finally, that if Jean felt the need to tell Armin about the wound, he would, and Armin would give Jean the right to decide what he would do.

-

They eventually finished prepping for the trip outside, and now all that was left to do was wait until noon. They both figured it would be safer to move around in the middle of the day, just to have a better view of their surroundings.

They packed lightly - they each had a backpack on that they tried to keep under ten pounds, and all they carried were bats. Jean also carries a few knives, but those barely weighed anything. When the couple finally felt safe enough to leave, they left the house quickly and made their way immediately to the supermarket.  
Armin was in charge of the list of things they were to gather. Armin's backpack was the lightest, so they would fill that one up the most before packing a few things in Jean's backpack. Armin would scout around and find everything they needed while Jean would stay very close behind and protect Armin from any impending danger. They would need to keep as silent as possible, since being too noisy would only alert more of the creatures. So, the two of them decided that they would stay inside arms reach of each other, in case either of them needed any help.

Before entering the supermarket, each of them took precautionary methods of securing at least two ways to exit under an emergency. They found one broken window in the front that both of them could easily jump through after the glass was cleaned off, and another exit in the side from where someone had apparently wrecked a vehicle in to the building, since there was a giant hole in the wall filled with debris. Their plan was to enter through the hole in the wall, and possibly exit through the hole as well, but if all else failed, they could make a run for the window.

After they were absolutely sure of themselves, they finally took the first few steps inside the building. Armin immediately headed for certain aisles where he knew what they needed would be, and Jean followed close behind, keeping an eye out in all directions. They had gotten more than half of their list done, when they needed to switch backpacks to fill, since Armin was sure that if he put any more cans in his backpack, he wouldn't be able to make it out. Jean agreed and they switched bags, and were about to head to the next aisle, when they heard s thunk from across the way.

They immediately froze and readied their weapons, and before they began to walk forward, gave each other nods of approval. They crept slowly through the aisle, being sure to be absolutely silent. After checking both sides of the end of the aisle, they continued onward to the next aisle; nothing. They continued this process until they reached about halfway through the store, when they decided it was best to stop here, since going any further in to the store would be very dangerous. If they just kept quiet, they would be able to leave this place without disturbing any of the creatures inside. Jean, of course, would rather shove one of the bats through one of their heads, but Armin needed to keep Jean cool headed, so they turned around and headed back to the aisles so they could finish.

They got to the aisle they had previously been at and were about to continue, when they heard the same thunking sound, but closer. Then there was the sound of something rolling across the floor, dangerously close to the two of them.

This meant that Armin had miscalculated where the creatures would be - he had assumed that they would be deeper in to the store where the meat products were, but he didn't take in to consideration the fact that it had been months since the infection began, and surely all of the meat back there was gone, and the creatures were now wondering freely around the supermarket.

Armin turned to face Jean, his face stricken with terror. He motioned his head to turn back the way they came, and Jean nodded in agreement. They took slow, careful steps to the end of the aisle, both praying they would make it out of here alive. If they were lucky, the creature that was wandering around was on the opposite side of which they were headed, but so far, luck did not seem in their favor today.

When they reached the end of the aisle and peeked around each side, both of their shoulders reflexively relaxed when they saw nothing around. Jean took the first step out of the aisle, and Armin soon followed. Armin stood by Jean, their arms touching as he whispered as softly as he could. "We should go ahead and get out of here." Jean nodded and took Armin's hand, walking gently to the end of the store where the hole was. They came to the last aisle and Jean slowly peeked his head around, then jerked his head away suddenly. He turned to Armin, eyes wide and shook his head. "The window." He whispered, voice deathly careful.  
Armin nodded, trying his best to stay calm. If neither one of them was calm, they would surely end up dead. He squeezed Jean's hand reassuringly and let Jean once again take the lead to the broken window.

The window was more of a hazard, since it faced vertically to the aisles, rather than horizontally, like the hole in the wall. Which meant that there was nothing to hide behind after heading toward the window. They would need to sprint down the aisle, which would cause a lot of noise, and they would need to be out of the building in a heartbeat, because the congregation of creatures would definitely move to the sound of them running.  
If they could make it that far, of course.

They now stood at the end of the closest aisle to the window, eyes darting every which way to make sure they would have a clean escape. After about three minutes of contemplation and silence, they both agreed that it was safe enough to make a run for it. They clasped their hands together and stood in the middle of the aisle, before Jean took the first leap, Armin close behind. Their shoes made almost deafening thudding sounds against the tiled floor, and Armin bit his lip as they ran for dear life. They finally reached the other end of the aisle, and just as Armin thought they were home safe, Jean cursed under his breath and suddenly jerked the two of them to the right, darting away from the window.  
  
Armin was about to protest, but turned and saw a long line of creatures on the left side of the window. These things moved faster than Armin anticipated.  
As they ran, Armin realized that there was no chance of escape now. They needed to find some kind of back room in the supermarket to hide in, because the exits that they had deemed safe were obviously not safe. He glanced around frantically, searching for any type of door or locker or anything.

Armin was about to give up, when suddenly he spotted large twin metal doors at the end of the building, and he ushered Jean to it. The doors luckily had handles, and from what Armin had deduced, those creatures weren't able to open doors. Plus, there should be some sort of lock on the inside, or at least something they could use to barricade the door.  
They slipped in to the doors and quickly shut them. Armin searched for a latch on the door, while Jean began to push some of the crates inside against the door. Armin had succeeded in locking the door, and now they were doubly secured. Armin turned to look around the locker room of some sort, and was thankful to see that there were no other doors inside this room for those creatures to enter through.

Although, Armin did begin to worry as he realized that this room was very, very cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im pretty sure this is the longest chapter?? i dunno, ive been progressively getting better at writing these past few days, since i havent written anything in well over a year.  
> this story is good practice for me!  
> i hope you guys are enjoying it, haha.


	4. No Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean reveals his secret.

As the minutes passed by, Armin grew progressively colder. He had to eventually wrap his arms around himself to get any sort of warmth. He glanced over to Jean, who was pacing frantically across the locker room, head down as he stared at the floor, cursing all the while.

  
"We were so damn close...! How the hell did they even get so close, so fast?" He questioned, nearly gorlwing as he spoke. Armin frowned, knowing that all of this was his fault. He was careless, and now both of them ran the risk of death. And not even death by the creatures, they would die of frostbite or something.

  
Armin still couldn't believe that they ended up getting locked in a freezer. Of all places to be stuck in, this is the place they got trapped in. Armin sighed shakily, his breath visible in soft clouds. This was a terrible idea and Armin had known from the start...

  
Armin began to pace the floor as well, but only to keep himself warm. He continuously glanced over at his partner, who seemed to be growing more and more agitated by the minute. Although Jean was known for his temper, this tantrum seemed a little out of place. Normally in such a situation Jean would be worrying over Armin, and trying to come up with a plan. His behavior seemed completely...different than what it should be.

  
As Armin throught of this, he remember the wound Jean had been cleaning. He stopped pacing the floor and now just stared at Jean, his eyes a bit wide. If Armin was right about his assumptions, Jean had been...bitten by one of those creatures. One of the symtoms, Armin remembered, was that before they turn, they grow gradually more and more angry.

  
Jean had apparently noticed the sudden stop in movement on Armin's behalf, and he stopped pacing as well, looking up from the floor to look at Armin. "What?"  
Armin shook his head and looked away almost immediately. "N...nothing. Sorry. I just...I got us in to this mess." He said, his voice laced with worry and concern.  
Jean walked over to Armin slowly, the cold just barely registering him as his body began to shiver. "Hey, you can't think like that." Jean said, gently wrapping his arms around Armin, who in turn snuggled up again Jean.

  
Before Armin could stop himself, he asked the question that had been on his mind since yesterday. "Jean, did you..." He started, taking a long pase before continuing. "...get bitten?"

  
Jean's entire frame went rigid at this question, and he let go of Armin. He stared down at the other with a face full of disbelief.  Neither of them said anything for a long while, and Armin grew increasingly sure that Jean had indeed gotten bit. He backed away from Jean, but only a tad, before Jean bean to speak, his voice hushed. "I didn't do too well of a job hiding it, did I?" He asked, his lips upturned in to a sad sort of smile.

  
Jean glanced up to look at Armin's terrified eyes, continuing. "The can opener part of my story was true, but...the tripping part was a lie. I encountered one of those creatures and I was completely caught of gaurd."

  
Armin listened, all the while backing more and more away from Jean.

  
Jean continued, looking to the other with a hurt expression. "I covered up the bite as best I could, before putting on a sweater I had found in the house. I was hoping you wouldn't notice." He chuckled. "But I should've known, you're not dumb enough to believe that a sweater as ugly as this would be mine." He said, now looking down at the sweater. "...I was going to tell you, but only after this food run. I wanted to make sure that you would be safe and prepared for the cold front." He said, almost pathetically.

  
Tears began to rise in Armin's eyes. Even after all of this, Jean was _still_ trying his best to protect Armin. Sure, Armin was unbearably mad that he wasn't told about the bite sooner, but he knew that even had he been told, there was nothing he could do. Jean was going to turn. Neither of them knew when, but it would happen and both were powerless to stop it.

  
Armin stared at the floor as he choked out a few sobs, trying to keep his composure. If he wasn't careful, the creatures would surround the door, further prowing they would die in this freezer. Jean didn't move forward to comfort Armin this time, since he realized he would probably just do more harm than good.

  
"I'm sorry." Jean started. "Even after all this time of being together, I'm still an idiot." He said, the remark obviously supposed to be a bit snarky, but neither of them cracked a smile.

  
-

  
The two of them stood away from each other for what seemed liked forever, until both of them realized that it was far too cold not to snuggle beside each other. They huddled in a corner near the door, both trembling uncontrollably. Armin could swear that his nose was turning some shade of blue.

  
They waited for nearly an hour, before they figured it was safe enough to open the door, or to at least peek outside of it. If they didn't leave that locker within the next fifteen minutes, however, Armin wasn't sure either of them would survive.

  
Jean took the bulk of the work by moving the crates away from the door, while Armin unlatched it. He opened the door as quietly as possible, until only a sliver was visible of the outside. Armin grazed the area, once, twice, nearly five times before he deemed it relatively safe. He warned Jean that there was one of them wandering around on the left side, but they had enough room to be able to maneuver away from it.

  
Their plan this time was to just run, figuring that since their plans before didn't work, that they would work without a plan at all. Maybe they would get lucky enough to fly past the creatures. Armin had figured that since they had caused so much attention this way, there would be less creatures up by the front of the store, however, Armin didn't get his hopes up. This time they would kill any creature that ot to close, rather than trying to run from them. Their plan was utterly reckless and could result in death, but what in this sorry excuse for a world did anything _not_ result in death?

They readied themselves for the worst, and as soon as Armin jerked the freezer door open, both of them ran like they had never ran before. They maneuvered past aisles and other things, Jean having to bash about three of the creatures heads in for them to be able to proceed. They reached the exit nearly unscathed, the only thing to worry about was the fact that they were covered in rotten guts and Armin had to try his best not to think about it, for he would need to throw up.

They didn't stop running until they reached the house, and once they got inside, both of them sunk to the floor in front of the door. They were exhausted and now had a new sense of terror between the two of them. Armin didn't mean to, but he began to scoot away from Jean. Jean didn't protest, for he knew the reason. Rather than brood over it, however, Jean stood and slipped his backpack off, heading to the back door. "I'll get some bath water ready." He said, and with that, left Armin alone to think about all of the things that had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohhhh man im so sorry for taking so long to update, school got really crazy for me and it was really difficult to find any time to write!  
> but i should have at least one or two more chapters done by this weekend!  
> wish me luck! (i seriously need it)


	5. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin has to cope with that fact that Jean won't be here much longer.

Armin sat there indulging in that fact that Jean wouldn't be with him much longer. He came up with many scenarios in his head, imagining Jean turning in the night and ripping Armin to shreds as he slept, or Jean turning during the middle of the day and Armin having to smash his head in. He even imagined both of them turning and living together as monsters - perhaps sharing a meal of intestines.

Armin shivered.

He couldn't believe himself, thinking of such things. He needed to be thinking seriously, rationally, finding a way to keep Jean as safe as possible for as long as possible. He knew there was no way to keep Jean from turning, but he'd made up his mind to make sure Jean would enjoy himself until he finally turned. Armin hoped that it would take quite a while for Jean to turn. He wanted to enjoy their last moments together as best as he could.

Once again tears began to brim in Armin's eyes and curled up against himself, not caring that he was just smearing the rotten guts that were on him. He cried softly, being too exhausted to manage more than soft gasps of sorrow. He didn't notice Jean walking back inside until he heard the splash of water filling the tub. Armin immediately jerked upward and rubbed his eyes furiously, trying his best to wipe the tears away. He was hoping that Jean wouldn't notice, but it was obvious that he would, considering Armin was making such a fuss about it.

Jean set the bucket aside and walked back over to Armin, kneeling down in front of him. He didn't say anything, just leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Armin as best he could from this angle, holding him close. Armin squirmed a bit, not liking the fact that he was crying, but after a while he calmed down and just leaned back against the other, trying his best to stop the tears once again.

They stayed like that for a bit before Armin made a sound, and Jean pulled away just a bit. They shared glances for a while, but Armin was the first to speak. "Sorry. Again. I can't help it." He said, his voice weak. Jean just smiled apologetically, shaking his head. "Nah. Can't be helped." He said softly, stroking Armin's hair for a bit before standing, taking Armin's arm and making him stand as well. "Come on, get ready for a bath. You stink."

Armin laughed despite himself, nudging the other softly. "You smell just as bad." He said, and Jean smiled once again, before heading back outside to get some more water.

-

They ended up in the bath together, like always, since it would be a waste of water if they didn't. Jean kept his arm wrapped up where the bite was, since he didn't want Armin to see it. Armin didn't complain, for now, at least. He was going to demand that he see the wound and patch it up properly, since Jean didn't know the first thing about first-aid, no matter how much time he tried to devote to getting it right. It just wasn't Jean's type of thing.

They bathed slowly, making sure they got all of the grime off of them. Everything stuck nearly like glue and it took at least five minutes to scrub something off. Eventually they finished and dried off with the same towel, slipped out of the bath and slipped on some clean clothes. They decided to trash their other clothes, since they weren't really useful during the winter and it would just be too tiresome to try and get the guts off.

After everything was said and done, they began to put away the cans they had retrieved from the supermarket. They did exceptionally well considering the fact that they didn't get all of what they needed and nearly died in the process. They gathered at least forty-something cans, enough to last them two months at the least. Armin was proud.

Not proud enough to forget their situation, however.

He glanced over at Jean who had just finished putting away the last of the cans. "Jean." Armin called out, hoping that his tone was assertive enough to catch Jean's attention. Jean looked his way, not at all confused about what Armin probably wanted to talk about. "Yeah?"

Armin put his bag down and walked over to Jean, sliding his hand up the others injured arm. He blinked slowly, sadly as he did so, his hand stopping a top the bandages. "Let me see it." He said softly, but Jean just shook his head. "No way." He said, his brows furrowing. Armin was having none of this, however, and he looked up with a glare. "Let me see it. It's the least you could do for me."

Jean looked hesitant before he finally surrendered his arm over to Armin. Armin said nothing as he slowly unraveled the bandages across the others arm, laughing a bit at Jean's terrible attempt at trying to bandage the wound. Jean looked quizzically at the other, wondering why the hell he would be laughing at something like this, but Armin's face immediately fell once he saw the wound. Jean looked away, the look on Armin's face a little too depressing for him.

Armin just stared at it for a long while, before he grimaced a bit. It was obvious that the wound was getting worse, since the skin was beginning to bubble, and Jean's muscle beneath the skin was also beginning to decay. Armin wondered how Jean managed to move his arm at all, considering how bad it looked. It looked like his arm would fall off at any given moment.

"Doesn't hurt at all, really." Jean said suddenly, causing Armin to look up from his arm, his eyebrow cocked in confusion. Jean's face was still turned away, but he still spoke. "Seems like it would, yeah? But it doesn't. Only when I touch it." He elaborated, and Armin's face fell back down to examine his arm. He didn't quite believe Jean - he was finding it really hard to believe a lot from Jean anymore - but he decided not to argue about it.

Armin stared at the wound a bit more, before tugging on the others arm, motioning over to the bath. "Let's take a bath. I'll clean it up and give it a proper bandaging." He said softly, his voice a bit monotonous. Jean just nodded, finally looked to Armin, who now was avoiding _his_ gaze. Jean resisted the urge to chuckle.

-

After they had bathed - in complete silence - Armin wasted no time in cleaning the wound vigorously, and bandaging it as tight as it would go. Armin knew, however, that no matter how tight he managed to bandage it, the wound was going to keep spreading until Jean eventually turned. But, until then, Armin would just try to pretend that the wound didn't exist at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW OKAY  
> this chapter ended up being really long (well, longer than the others)  
> i wrote this chapter at school, which was really awkward considering every one wanted to see what i was doing  
> BUT   
> i do hope you enjoyed this chapter, i will try to update within the next week!


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